Book Marketing for Nonfiction Authors Blog

4 Important Marketing Actions to Take on Amazon as Soon as Your Book is Published

Releasing a new book is a cause for celebration! It is like welcoming your new baby into the world. Aside from executing your marketing plan, here are four critical steps every author should take on Amazon as soon as the book is released.

1. Submit your book to the Search Inside the Book program. This allows potential buyers to preview contents before making a decision to purchase your book and also improves your book’s searchability on Amazon.

2. Set up your Amazon Author Central account and claim your book. This is a free service that allows you to add and update content to your book’s page on Amazon, get exposure as an author by feeding in your blog and sharing contact information, and even monitor sales information.

3. Add tags to your book’s page. Tags can be found about mid-way down the page and are essentially keywords that users would use to find your book. This can improve search results on Amazon as well.

4. Solicit book reviews. Like it or not, reviews help sell books on Amazon. Ideally you want reviews from real readers–not your great aunt or you mother! The best way to generate reviews is to give away some free copies of your book to colleagues and peers and ask that in exchange, if they like the book, they write a review for you. I’ve also held “Free Book Friday” campaigns via social media where I’ve given away books for the same purpose.